


I'm Right Here

by ShadowoftheLamp



Series: Deathshipping Week [4]
Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Panic Attack, Post-Canon, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-04-23 02:10:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19141477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowoftheLamp/pseuds/ShadowoftheLamp
Summary: Kek has a nightmare and Ryou has to talk him down when he thinks he’s back in the shadows. Rated T mostly for language.





	I'm Right Here

Ryou woke up when he felt movement, but it took a few moments to actually open his eyes. He rubbed his forehead, hearing a crash from the living room. “Mmm?” A quick glance at the clock showed that it was three in the morning, and he groaned. He slid off the bed, noting Kek’s absence from his side. At least it wasn’t a burglar, then.

“Kek?” Ryou creaked the door open to see Kek huddled in the corner with only the open fridge light to illuminate him all the way across the room. There was a butter knife grasped in his shaking hands, and he was shirtless with sweatpants like he usually slept.

“Get the fuck away from me!” Kek brandished the knife, and a few crumbs fell off the butter still clinging to it. They’d had eggs and toast for dinner- he must have grabbed it from the sink. His eyes were dark and blank, and when Ryou tried to take a step closer, his grip on the handle tightened. The shadows cast around him made his face almost ghoulish, and when Ryou got between him and the fridge’s light, it only got worse.

“Kek, it’s me. It’s Ryou.”

“What’s a Ryou? You look like-”

“The Ring spirit, I know. You had a nightmare.” Ryou bit his lip- they’d been through this before, but it never got any easier. “I promise, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Bullshit!”

Ryou knelt down in front of him. “You’re not in the shadows. You’re in my apartment. You’re twenty. It’s been a year and a half. You’re not just part of Malik, you’re Kek. You picked that name, and we both laughed at it enough to keep it, remember?”

Kek’s grip on the knife loosened a little, so Ryou continued.

“I found you, and I gave you some food, and then I helped you warm up since you were freezing.” He grabbed the edge of a blanket, leaning forward to drape it around Kek’s shoulders without pressing his chest against the knife. “You still have nightmares about the shadows sometimes, but you’re not there anymore and you never will be again.” He kept a cautious eye on Kek, knowing he could still be in panic mode. A person could still do a lot of damage with a butter knife, jabbing it into an armpit or an eyeball. “I’m going to turn the light on, alright?”

“Alright,” Kek said quietly, watching Ryou like a hawk and squinting when the light clicked on.

“I’m going to make us some tea. There’s still a few cookies in the cabinet, we can have those too. Are you ready to give up the knife yet?”

Kek shook his head, and Ryou nodded. “Alright.” He pulled a pillow off the couch, setting it down in front of Kek, before getting up to boil some water.

Kek watched him, and Ryou smiled to himself when he heard a small thud when Kek dropped the knife to pick up the pillow.

“Just take deep breaths. Focus on the carpet and look around the apartment.” Ryou said when the kettle was set up, bringing back the small tray that had three cookies left. He took one and offered the tray to Kek, who grabbed the other two. He examined them for a moment before jamming one in his mouth. “Try not to choke. You’re not starving anymore. You can feel that, can’t you?”

Kek bit the other cookie to hold it in his mouth and patted his stomach, feeling that there was a small curve outwards instead of the ribs he’d expected. He swallowed, then dropped the cookie into his mouth. He blinked. “Ryou?”  
  
“Yeah. Welcome back.”

He practically crushed Ryou in a hug, tugging the pillow out from between them. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.” Ryou started stroking through Kek’s hair, feeling sweat beading on his skull and his heart jackhammering even through his pajamas. “You’ve been through a lot, and you’re getting better. That’s what matters.”

“I-I could have hurt you…”

“You always go to this corner and I can run fast,” Ryou said. “Besides, this time you didn’t actually try and stab me. That’s progress.” He kept stroking through Kek’s hair, hearing his breathing begin to slow. They stayed hugging for a few more minutes before the kettle started to whistle. “I’ll go get it.” He stood up, allowing a few moments for Kek to let him go before he started pouring the tea.

Kek picked up the pillow, hugging it to his chest as he walked over to the kitchen. Instead of sitting across from Ryou like he usually did, he dragged the chair around so he was sitting right next to him instead. Ryou smiled, dropping a cube of sugar into both cups before handing one to Mariku. He cupped his hands around it, and Ryou heard his sigh of relief. He’d worked himself up into a sweat, but tea almost always helped.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Ryou asked.

Kek thought for a moment, before shaking his head. “Tomorrow.”

“Technically speaking, it is tomorrow,” Ryou said. “When we wake up, then.”

“It was the same as always. Smothered, half-blind…”

“You didn’t deserve that.” Ryou said. “You were-”

“-Just really shit at coping.” Kek finished. “I know, but it still happened.”

“You survived,” Ryou said.

“So did you. How many days were you there?”

“Three or four,” Ryou said. “No, wait… after Diva, it was more like six or seven.”

“Little fucker’s lucky he’s in Egypt, otherwise I’d-”

“Don’t spill the tea, you’ll burn yourself,” Ryou said, noticing Kek about to make a throttling motion. Still, he smiled- he was going back to normal. “I know, he was bad, but he’s out of our hair, hopefully forever. It’s just us.”

Kek took a sip of the tea, before setting it down and holding Ryou’s hand. “Just us.”

“It’s like our justice was just surviving all the shit,” Ryou said, and Kek’s hand twitched on his.

“We should have more than just scraps.”

“Surviving means we can make a happy ending. We’re just still dealing with the end of the bumpy part. We’re here, drinking tea and eating cookies, and when you’re ready, we have a warm bed.”

Kek swirled his cup around a bit, watching the sugar dissolve before taking another sip. They sat in comfortable silence for a bit, before he kissed Ryou’s cheek. Ryou smiled.

“When we finish the tea, I’m turning the fan on.”

“That’s fine,” Ryou said, watching Kek. His posture had relaxed. “I’m proud of you, you know.”

“Mm?”

“It used to take you all night to calm down. You’re really getting better.”

“You help,” Kek said, before giving him a squeeze. “Plus you’re a human-sized teddy bear, that helps me get back to sleep.”

“What can I say? I’m a natural-born cuddler.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've talked about general 'post-canon ymalik is freaked by his time in the shadows' a lot but I will continue to do so forever. Comments are super great!


End file.
